All food has a natural anabolic or building effect on the body. The trick is to choose the foods that tip the balance in favor of building muscle rather than storing body fat. In fact, you determine your body composition with your food choices, giving new meaning to the phrase "you are what you eat." If you choose lean proteins, low-glycemic carbohydrates and healthy fats, you will stay lean and muscular.
Lean Meats
Lean forms of meat like beef, chicken, fish and turkey help you gain lean mass because these proteins are made of long chains of amino acids, which are the raw materials your body uses to build muscle, according to "Optimum Anabolics" by Jeff Anderson. What your body does is actually quite amazing. It takes amino acids that used to be part of an animal's muscle tissue and recycles them by building them into muscle protein in your own body.
Eggs
Eggs are a nearly perfect source of protein for the human body, according to the Muscle & Fitness article "Supplements 101" by Jim Stoppani, due to their high rate of digestibility and beneficial amino acid profile. Moreover, you may want to rethink tossing out all of the yolks, since half of the protein, nearly all of the vitamins and muscle building fats are found within them. Monounsaturated fat, like that found in egg yolks, play an important role in the production of muscle-building hormones like testosterone.
Low-Fat Dairy
Dairy is not for everyone due to its lactose sugar content, which can send lactose-intolerant people to the bathroom in a hurry. However, according to Mackie Shilstone's "The Fat Burning Bible," it contains high amounts of calcium, which strengthens bones, inhibits fat storage and plays a direct role in fat burning. Dairy contains such high-quality proteins as slow-digesting casein and fast-digesting whey, both of which can help build lean muscle. Milk, cottage cheese, yogurt and ricotta cheese can be muscle-building and fat-burning dynamos.
Whole Grains and Beans
Unprocessed beans and grains provide low-glycemic carbohydrates to fuel intense workouts and stabilize blood sugar, preventing fat storage. The less processed the starch, the better it is for gaining lean muscle and burning fat. Choose whole grain pastas, breads and rice rather than the white varieties. For beans, stay away from refried varieties, to which large amounts of fat and sodium are routinely added.
Fruits and Vegetables
Fruits and vegetables provide important vitamins and antioxidants that are essential to proper body functions such as producing energy, assimilating nutrients and building muscle. Moreover, the antioxidants found in these natural wonders have potent fat-burning properties, according to the Muscle & Fitness article "The Usual Suspects" by Jordana Brown. For the record, fruits do contain sugars and some of them are high-glycemic, but their health benefits outweigh many of the claims made by detractors.
Healthy Fats
Functional fats and essential fatty acids such as omega-3 from fish or flax oil, olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds and peanut butter can contribute to lean muscle gains. In fact, if you do not take in at least 25 to 30 percent of your diet from these healthy fats, you will inhibit your natural fat-burning and muscle-building hormones, according to "Combat the Fat" by Jeff Anderson.
References
- Muscle & Fitness: The Ultimate Supplement Handbook; "Supplements 101"; Jim Stoppani
- "Optimum Anabolics"; Jeff Anderson; 2008
- Muscle & Fitness: The Ultimate Supplement Handbook; "The Usual Suspects"; Jordana Brown
- "The Fat Burning Bible"; Mackie Shilstone; 2005
- "Combat the Fat"; Jeff Anderson; 2008
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